Macchi Castoldi MC.72 03
On Wed, 20 Mar 2013 08:32:20 +1030, "Dave Kearton"
wrote:
"ŽiŠardo" wrote in message
m...
On 19/03/2013 19:26, Dave Kearton wrote:
Hi Dave,
Yes, as explained to Indrek:
"Macchi-Castoldi MC-72 Fiat AS6 engine; dual V-12, 3100 total HP,
each engine drives one very course, fixed-pitch prop 440.729 mph in 1934.
Class record still stands. Why contra-prop? Supermarine S6B w/ 2650 HP on
single prop overloaded one float by 32% on takeoff due to torque."
Regards,
RiŠardo
What fascinated me is the engineering work required to get the job done.
Not only are there two unique engines inline, but the crankshafts can't be
simply bolted together.
I've been thinking about it for a while now and I can't think of a simple
way to do it reliably.
Sounds like the designers had the same problem - didn't Ricardo
mention that two of the three examples crashed?
All that effort and expense for a one-off design. Absolutely outstanding
that they got it to work at all, much less in the '30s.
And how much faster would it have been without the floats?
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